Saving water can have a huge impact on the expense of operating multifamily buildings - especially when the water bills and the heating and hot water bills are in the same ballpark.

In addition to being energy hogs, multifamily buildings—especially older ones—can be water hogs.The only way to be certain if a multifamily building is a hog or not is to perform an audit. So along with looking at lights, HVAC, and the myriad of other components that go into buildings’ energy use, Steven Winter Associates (SWA), where we work, makes sure to give the water uses their due on site visits. Recent SWA audits of multifamily buildings have revealed that on an annual basis, in some instances, a building’s water bill exceeds the heat-plushot- water bill. SWA’s Multifamily Buildings staff has performed energy audits on buildings all over the country. Some audits are subsidized by utilities, state programs, or statewide surcharges on utility bills, but many are contracted directly with managers and owners of multifamily buildings that have been hit with large increases in energy and water costs. Savings Potential Most of the audits that our team has completed in the last two years have been in the New York,Washington, DC, and ...